Jeremy Kerr commercial blackmailer

A threat to contaminate infant milk formula with 1080 was a business ploy to drive sales of a competitor possum poison, the Crown says.

Businessman Jeremy Hamish Kerr, 60, appeared in the High Court at Auckland on Monday after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted blackmail.

Police revealed in March 2015 that Fonterra and Federated Farmers had received threatening letters, along with milk packages that tested positive for the poison.

The letters threatened to contaminate infant formula and other products if New Zealand did not cease to use the poison. It also threatened to disclose the matter publicly.

Kerr, who developed a rival product to 1080 – the cyanide-based poison Feratox, pleaded guilty in December.

His actions might have ended up costing New Zealand hundreds of millions of dollars in lost exports. Plus there was the huge cost of the investigation and safety precautions. He should face a long prison sentence.

I’m tempted to say that what he did is even worse than if someone did this for political reasons – ie at least they were doing it for something they believed in, rather than to profit from it. But in the end either motivation is despicable and selfish so equally bad I’d say.

Ross12

howitis

No, make it political.
That was a long way to drive so a lot of long term effort went into this evil act.

Convict the evil bastard of treason and anything else that fits.
It is a pity hanging is not still on the books. It should be.
I’d even take up knitting so I could knit while the bastard was swinging from the rope.
Next please.

Nigel

Damn the arrow buttons are small under chrome ( Android ), hit the wrong one first post.
To the subject at hand, maybe the the worst piece of economic sabotage in nz history ?.
It deserves a seriously long term imprisonment, to attempt to affect the livelihood of so many people and with the motive of improving a royalty payment, unbelievable.

Rachael Membery

fernglas

Checked the maximum. It can’t be blackmail, as that has to involve a threat to a person. If it’s sending a threatening letter as Stuff reported, the max is indeed 3 years; if it’s intended to cause commercial loss, it’s 7, but it sounds to me like it’s the former. Guilty plea? 33% discount if you throw in personal factors. 2 year starting point? Home detention on the worst possible interpretation of the facts.
Not enough.

burt

Breaking news;

Kerr has joined the Labour Party and is now claiming the law was confusing and others were doing it to – There is no choice for NZ now other than to move on because ignorance of the law is an excuse for Labour Party members and it’s not fair to single out one person when others are doing it to.

I, RRM, unreservedly and unconditionally apologise to swivel-eyed environmentalist/anti-establishment loons throughout Howltearoa/New Zealand, for baselessly smearing them as being likely culprits of this in the comments on Kiwiblog’s original post about this, dated March 10th, 2015.

This prick deliberately risked killing the country in a bid to promote his bullshit product. Throw away the key.

David Garrett

As I understand it, the maximum for this offence is 14 years…It is one of those cases where s.8 (c) of the Sentencing Act – requiring the maximum sentence for the worst cases – ought to be invoked.

This guy is a great deal worse that the (usually) brown losers who rob liquor stores: As an educated man he has absolutely no excuse, and the impact of what he did is immeasurably worse…10 – 12 years for him…But we all know what the ……Judge will give him….

Hajji

David Garrett

Hajji: Worse than that…the JUDGE will probably say he is a good boy who was undergoing stress at the time…(Before the inevitable sneerers arrive, in my case it was the fact that I had never used the passport that saved me…this guy has no such defence)

Kea

duggledog

Watching Kerr on TV1 News.

He will get a piffling sentence; just watch. There will be no meaningful punishment applied. It’s New Zealand after all – god how it must piss the cops off. They have worked hard to get this guy and they get to see him and many many others like him and worse let off the hook all day every day.

Same as the SAFE dairy farm saboteurs.
Same as the stinking hippy weirdos who wrecked the Waihopai site.

Makes my blood boil how people can do so much damage and get away with it in this country.

lilman

I’m a dairy farmer,I’m struggling and it’s not easy at the moment.
My decision to be a farmer,part-time mill hand,but its a way of life.
I have a debt of about 8oo thousand and I am losing 100 thousand this year.

This bastard cost me unknown amount of money,Cold and calculated was his method and now he pleads for mercy.

PhilP

Had to laugh watching him on TV1 News in the Police interview…….he claims he was mentally unstable when he sent the letters and in the next breath says he regretted sending them as soon as he had done it. A genuine unhinged person would NOT be feeling remorse immediately afterwards. Lock him up and throw away the key……..who knows what damage he did to the NZ economy, costing millions maybe billions.

CharlieBrown

What the guy did was despicable but we need to put it in context. He cost us lots of money, but no more than a misguided minister does. In the mean time, a man is sentenced to five years prison for “injuring with intent” after whacking a guy on the head with a hammer, it wasn’t murder because his mate dealt the killing blow with a knife. I believe people that whack others in the head with hammers in premeditated attacks deserve harsher punnishments than people with despicable but ultimately empty threats.

Southern Raider

Kea you really are a complete cock aren’t you. Ever actually had kids and lived in the real world?

In case your heads still up your arse
1) a lot of mums for medical reasons can’t breast feed so they really solely on formula. Should they just let their babies starve?
2) Consumers in international markets have choices and after the last one in China it wouldn’t take much to make them switch brands

Tauhei Notts

It seems that no one here comprehends just how much this man’s behaviour has cost and will continue to cost the dairy industry in our country.
That army of security guards that surround each and every dairy factory nowadays have to be paid. And the cost is considerable. But that cost comes out of dairy company income BEFORE the farmer gets paid. It is a big transfer of wealth from the productive sector of the economy to the unproductive sector. It is debilitating for dairy farmers to see their dairy companies saddled with that totally unnecessary expense.
For this man’s behaviour has forced that sort if expenditure on each and every dairy factory.

CharlieBrown

Tauheii nots – you do realise that all the additional regulations brought on by national will cost far more than what this turd has cost us? Banning the inducing of cows is just one regulation of the top of my head, add on all the additional health and safety bs brought under national and farmers can only blame themselves for voting for a regulation loving center left government.

G152

mikemikemikemike

Love how you all want this guy dead, not for threatening the health and safety of babies, but as an act of revenge because he cost people money…

as far as cost to our dairy industry, its no longer the big kahuna as far as economic contributor – so I shouldn’t think any detrimental impacts to us as a country will be as badly felt as they would have 10 years ago….

mara

I saw a chap buying a tin of baby formula at the supermarket yesterday. He flipped the lid and examined the foil covering very carefully before putting the tin in the cart. Some people are still a bit nervous. It shouldn’t have to be like this. Considering how easy it is for some mongrel to ACTUALLY contaminate food, anybody, even threatening to do so, should, IMHO, be locked up for life.